Pharmacist Convicted of Illegal Oxycodone Distribution and Health Care Fraud

A New York pharmacist was convicted of narcotics and health care fraud charges on Thursday, November 10.

Kian Gohari, who owned Ekwunife Pharmacy in Brooklyn, was convicted for his role in a scheme to distribute medically unnecessary oxycodone medication for resale and fraudulently bill Medicaid for the pills and other fraudulent prescriptions.

From 2012 to 2015, Gohari distributed over 25,000 medically unnecessary oxycodone pills to a co-conspirator to be resold in Brooklyn and Manhattan. In exchange for the oxycodone pills, Gohari’s co-conspirator brought him prescriptions for high-end medications, such as HIV medications, psychiatric medications, and expensive pain gels, many of which were also medically unnecessary. Gohari then billed Medicaid for those medications.

Following an 8 day trial, Gohari was convicted of 1 count of conspiracy to distribute narcotics and 1 count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. The maximum potential sentence is 30 years in prison.